LATROBE CITY BOCCE CLASSIC MIXED TRIPLES 2012

The Latrobe City Bocce Classic Mixed Triples Championship
this year has attracted the participation of 24 teams, principally from
Metropolitan Melbourne, the north eastern region of Victoria and the Australian
Capital Territory. The 11th edition of this tournament held over two
days, (Saturday 30th June and Sunday 1st July) and
sponsored for many years by Latrobe City, was played at the Italian Australian
Social and Sporting Club of Gippsland. The Classic was officially opened by the
Deputy Mayor of Latrobe city, Sharon Gibson together with Latrobe City Councilors
and MP Russell Northe. During the Saturday the preliminary matches were
contested, while on the Sunday morning the finals were held. As by tradition,
the Bocce Federation of Australia fielded a team for this Classic event.
Secretary Frank Funari and Treasurer Tony Biancacci participated with Leonie
Finocchiaro.

There were high expectations on the team from Tatura
comprising of Tony, Mario and Angiolina Borrelli, who were last year’s winners
and also runners up from two years ago.

Saturday, saw some great bocce being played in the group
stage of the competition, where the top four teams in each group qualified for
the top 16 and knock-out format of the tournament. After some tight matches the
semi finalist were Lazio Marche (Jim Coviello, Lino Mosca and Marcella
Giacomin) versus Freccia Azzura (Raffaele Marcon, Carmela Dibiase and
Antonietta Albanese) and Tatura (Tony, Mario and Angiolina Borrelli) versus
Casa D’Abruzzo (Francesca Smarelli, Antionetta Cassetta and Tony Di Federico).

The excitement around the team from Tatura proved to be
right, shown by their domination in their semi-final against Casa D’Abruzzo. Because,
after scoring five points on the first end, Tatura didn’t give Casa D’Abruzzo a
chance, going on to win 11-0 points. The other semi-final was won by the
Freccia Azzura team.

The grand final was surprisingly one sided, for with some
solid pointing the Freccia Azzura team were in control of the game from start
to finish, defeating Tatura, last year’s champions by 9-3 points.

Congratulations also go to Jim Coviello (Lazio Marche),
being voted the best and fairest player for the tournament.

Special thanks should go to the Club’s President Frank
D’Urbano and the Bocce subcommittee, under the guidance of President Tony
Paolini and also Sally Fava, for their excellent organization in ensuring the
successful outcome for this Championship.